NY Philharmonic shelves Cuba trip after government bars sponsors from visiting Cuba under travel ban

October 2, 2009

New York's Philharmonic Orchestra has put off its first trip to Cuba after sponsors were barred from visiting the Communist-led country.

"The postponement is due to existing US government restrictions on travel to Cuba," it said in a statement.

The Philharmonic made history last year when they performed a landmark concert in North Korea's capital Pyongyang.

Havana was due to host two concerts by the orchestra at the end of next month.

It said that its plans received the support of President Barack Obama's administration.

But long-standing restrictions on the travel of US citizens to Cuba caused logistical problems.

According to a Philharmonic spokesman, US authorities said no travel permit category existed for them to travel under.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8286598.stm

"its plans received the support of President Barack Obama's administration." Really? So the State Department could not create an exception or special category that would have permitted their travel to Cuba? Bull shit! Who's running the State Department? President Obama or George W. Bush? Obama has the power!

Kool-Aid, anyone?



LGBTs do know that there is a disconnect between Obama's words, and his deeds.

:-)

Aren't we ready to impeach by now!!!?>?

Because it is the Helms-Burton Act that you are referring to.

Both Clinton and Bush signed waivers to Helms-Burton anyway.

JFK than promised not to try a second invasion of Cuba and dismantle IRBM missile bases in Turkey on the condition that the Soviet Union withdraw it's nuclear weapons from Cuba.

Then the President can't just order the State Department to allow them to go to Cuba. The Miami exiles have been pushing Congress to pass all of these bullshit restrictions on Cuba that don't exist for any other country before this President was even an adult. Blaming this on Obama is a bit of a stretch.

they throw out words like god, cult, and messiah, then are apoplectic that he doesn't have god-like powers to fix things.

i have never seen such a childish display of perpetual self-righteous outrage.

Selective enforcement of the law is not quite what we had in mind last November.

Choosing not to prosecute somebody and choosing not to break a law are two entirely different things. The Justice Department ultimately gets to decide in which cases they want to impanel a grand jury and get an indictment for. There are a lot of illegal actions that go un-prosecuted for all sorts of reasons and that's a reality of the system.

Not prosecuting Bush Administration officials may have been the wrong thing to do but it wasn't illegal. Issuing a travel permit that doesn't exist under the law is illegal any way you look at it. Now if the NY philharmonic goes to Cuba anyway and the President chooses to not prosecute them for it, he would not technically be breaking any laws as far as I know.

We know that Bush trampled on the Constitution. Bush himself publicly admitted that he broke FISA.

Travel restrictions on Cuba are the law, issuing a travel permit that does not exist is a violation of the law. The President is right to follow the law.

I'm wondering how well you know the law.

The State Department can give waivers to anyone they want to and they have over the years.

The laws regarding Cuba are absurd.

We can travel to almost any other country without an issue or the need to get "permission." But the State Department can and does give out waivers on a regular basis for Cuba travel. For example the Bush administration gave one to Michael Moore when he filmed part of his "Sicko" film there. I got one in 1995 on a university educational waiver.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-in-the-news/michael-moore-in-trouble-for-cuba-trip#

And while I'm well aware that the state department does hand out waivers but they have to be for very specific purposes which are coded under the law. The article says that the State Department could not find a category of waiver that allows for the NY philharmonic to play their concert in Cuba.

Again, you will get no argument from me that these laws are fucking ridiculous. But they are laws, not executive orders made by this President nor any other President.

The idea that the travel restrictions are law is a joke. They're unconstitutional, and more so, simply inhuman. However, on the same token, if they really wanted to go, they should just fly there from another country and see if the state department has the balls to try to bust them on their return.

Those laws may be unconstitutional but until the Supreme Court says that they are unconstitutional, they are still the law. However, the administration would not have to punish the NY philharmonic if they did choose to go to Cuba from another country. In fact I imagine they would not.

It would be a much bigger disaster if they were punished for going. However they'd probably also have to pretend to be upset..... that is if the media tried to make it a news story, which they probably wouldn't (nothing sensational about classical music - it's not art done with elephant poop or anything).

Really this crap has to stop - my government cannot tell me where I can and cannot go, unless I'm locked up in a federal prison. Until then, I'm a free man.

He's Bush-lite I tell ya, Bush-lite!!!!!

and clear it up right now.:sarcasm: